The Animator
by Nina Purpleton
Summary: An Adventure in Xanth and Future Mundania
1. Prologue

This story is based on two series. Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber's "The Mutant Season" and The World of Xanth by Piers Anthony.

Disclaimer: With the exception ofthe protagonist and a few members of her family, I don't own the rights to the aforementioned books. I am just glad that they have created such wonderful worlds for us readers to explore.

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**Prologue**

What does THE FLY, THE CHRYSALIS and THE MARVEL UNIVERSE have in common? Other than the fact that all three were products of the human imagination. If your answer is mutants, you have deduced the theme of this story. Ah, yes, the mutants. The outsiders. The secret changed ones. Hidden away from the "normal" society, surviving on their skill at slight of hand, as medicine men or women and as thieves. Theologists had argued that mutants have been present as early as the Fifteenth Century. Some even say that they could have been a sub-group of the Gypsies.

In the late Seventies and Eighties, the more liberal of the mutants covertly observed the reaction they have on "normal" society. They were young and optimistic and believed that given time the normals would come to accept them. The normals reacted alright. But not what the young mutants had expected. They were regarded at best as sideshow freaks and at worst, a disease that was to be avoided at all costs. The mutants persevered and for a time the normals seemed to be tolerating them. It was not until the Nineties that the mutants emerged into the public light and demanded equality. For the first time in mutant history their tightly knitted group was divided. The older, traditional mutants felt that the time was not right to re-integrate themselves to the other society. The younger ones, encouraged by the tolerance most of the normals had shown toward them, pushed for the motion to rejoin the rest of the Human Race. The traditionists just shook their heads and said that the younger Generation were courting disaster. But no one had foreseen the violence that will come with such idealistic dreams…


	2. Intermission 1

**_November 13th 1994_**

"We want our rights and we want them now! Give us our freedom and we don't care how!" yelled by hundreds of protesters outside the Senate building. The telecast then switched to the interior where reporters from The Washington Post were interviewing Senator Lyle Forbes.

"Senator, what are your comments about the Fairness Doctrine being passed in favour of the Normals?"

"I feel that the Doctrine speaks for itself. Personally, I think the Muntants are being a bit unreasonable in their demands. Furthermore I-----" Senator Forbes' speech was cut off as the roomscreen went dark. Henry Jacobsen, an elder in the mutant council, sat glaring at the darken roomscreen_. What a bunch of lying hypocrites._ He rose from the floatseat where he had been sitting for the past five hours and stretched. _Ever since the clan turned their backs on Tamie and Jano fours years ago there have been nothing but trouble._ His thoughts then turned to a more pleasant subject as he reminisced. The clan had raised a real big fuss when Tamara, his oldest daughter, came to the annual clan meeting with her Normal lover Jano West and announced that they were getting married. He still recalled the defiant look on her face as she took in the disapproval of the clan's groupmind. He had left his seat in the clan council and stunned everyone including himself by blessing the couple and leaving the meeting early. He did not show up at the re-scheduled meeting days after. His sister-in-law Roberta urged him to come to the annual gathering at New Year and had reassured him that the incident with Tamara had blown over. He was met with sympathic looks. Some even came over to congratulate him. He frequently visited with his daughter and when his granddaughter Dana was born, he was present in the hospital room. He had cloaked his presence from the hospital staff and observed as the normal doctor delivered the baby. Dana cried vehemently, shielding her eyes with tiny hands. Henry realized right away what was wrong with the baby.

_:Dim the lights please, it's hurting the baby's eyes.: _He projected towards the doctor.

"Dim the lights please, it's hurting the baby's eyes." The doctor relayed his unspoken message. Dana stopped crying the moment the lights were dimmed. The baby was looking straight at him, waving her tiny fists. Her emerald-green eyes met his golden ones. His first reaction upon seeing that Dana had normal eyes was disappointment. It soon became amazement when he realized his granddaughter could see him in his cloaked form. After letting Tamara hold the baby for a while, the nurses bustled out with Dana. He became visible only when the doctor left.

"Father, what are you doing here? Where's Jano?" Tamara indicated the chair, which she had just floated to where he stood by the bed. Henry sat down and took her left hand in both of his.

"He has to work late today so I came instead. Did you know that Dana could see me even when I was cloaked?" Tamara nodded.

"I was wondering who she was waving at before you materialized, Father." She smiled. "I was betting on Skerry. That little scamp would do just about anything to stay out of school." She regarded her father silently. "Something is bothering you, what is it?" Henry sighed.

"The council is going ahead with active integration. Haldon and I are outvoted ten to two." He paused, debating whether or not to tell his daughter about the mental flares. "I was considering stepping down from the council and let the younger members take my place. I find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on political issues." He rubbed his temple with his fingertips to clear his head as the mental flares took hold in its nighttime cycle.

"Father! Why didn't you tell me you are getting them?" Tamara was alarmed. She closed her eyes in concentration and the flares subsided. Henry was quite thankful that his daughter also happen to be the strongest empath of his family. She was better than any drug prescribed by clan healers.

"I am fine now, thank you sweetheart. You better conserve your strength. I sense that Dana is going to be a very special child indeed." As he had predicted, his granddaughter grew up to be a pretty special child. Being only half mutant and not having the reflective golden eyes that was the trademark of all mutants, Dana did not have the problems usually experienced by mutant children while growing up. Henry adored his half-caste granddaughter and he did not mind when Tamara occasionally asked him to baby-sit. The council recently took an interest in Dana when Roberta unwittingly hinted that the child had inherited her mother's rare empathic healing power. _I'll bet no one on the council could care less that the child lived or died if Dana was a normal._ Henry thought bitterly._ I'll see to it that Dana would not be subjected to the rest of the council's political maneuverings. _The door chime interrupted his train of thought. He knew without checking the security screen who his visitors were. He strode with a youthful spring to his step across the den toward the front door.

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"Those bloody muties are causing trouble again. If it wasn't equal wages, it's equal justice." The crowd that had gathered in front of the viewscreen was getting bigger. The general atmosphere inside the food kiosk shifted from relaxing to that of amosity. Jano West just lost his appetite. For the past ten years he had been living with a mutant family. His wife of four years was also a mutant. He paid for his lunch and left the kiosk. It would not help a bit to justify to the crowd at the kiosk that the mutants were people too.

It was the mutants who had helped him when he first arrived in Mundania over ten years ago. He and a few other volunteers from North Village had been sent by King Trent of Xanth to secure trade relations with Mundania. Prince Dor and Centaur Archivist Arnolde had met Mundane Archivist Ichobold in Future Mundania and Jano had personally volunteered to be liaison to Mundania with Bink. Something had gone wrong with the timing of the magic portal. Instead of sending Jano to Mundania in Ichobold's time (aprox. 1971), the magic portal sent him almost nine years later. Jano was disorientated and confused. He wandered aimlessly about, trying to locate Bink and the directions to Ichobold's address. The Mundane technology had over whelmed him. It was getting dark and he became just a little discouraged. As he rounded a corner of a Mundane building he…..Jano mentally kicked himself. It was that mental block again and tried as he could, he could not remember what happened between the time he strode down that dimly lit path, then woke up in a strange bed and gazed into the golden eyes of the most beautiful girl he have ever seen. She had spoken to him in the harsh Mundane language and he was surprised to find out he could understand the meaning if not the words. She became alarmed when he started to ask her where he was. When he persisted with his questions, this time using hand signs to help make his meaning clear, she ran screaming out the door. After a while the girl, slightly pink in embarrassment, came back with an older man who turned out to be her father. It was hard work but Jano finally made himself understood by the girl and her father. Their names were Tamara and Henry Jacobsen. The Jacobsens were skeptical at first, when Jano told them where he came from. They gradually accepted Xanth as days passed when occasionally Jano performed some tasks that had no rational explanation. The four of them, Henry had a younger daughter Eleanor who had been away at college Upstate, lived in peaceful co-existence. Years went by and although Jano could not find the Xanth time portal he did not give up hope of going home.

Not until recently did he manage to pay off his debt to Henry Jacobsen. It did not feel right to be in debt to anyone, especially the father of the woman that he had fallen in love with. He knew that his relationship with Tamara was frowned upon by her relatives. The Mundanes in this time period, as he had learned over the years, were divided into two major groups: the normals, to which he apparently belong, and the mutants, enhanced Homo Sapiens of which Tamara was a member. It hurts to see Tamara so unhappy. She had told him what was wrong. The clan had chosen a husband for her now that she was of marriageable age. She was in love with a normal. A very special normal. There were very few choices for them. They could elope or they could have a shotgun wedding. At the end they chose to face the clan. Tamara's announcement of their wedding plans shocked the clan. Jano stood nervously by Tamara as seventy pairs of golden eyes locked on the two of them. Tamara had reassuringly squeezed his hand and his nervousness left him. What had happened next was totally unexpected. Tamara's father, an elder in the clan council and their Bookkeeper, rose from his chair and walked over toward them. He stood silently, regarding Tamara for a few seconds and then placed a hand, fingertips touching forehead, to each of them. _Go in peace, my children, you have my blessing, _said a voice inside his head. Then Henry Jacobsen left by the front door. Jano could still remember the happiness in Tamara's eyes and the stunned silence of the room. They left the meeting place and their past far behind and began their new life.

With a sigh Jano settled himself behind his workstation at the International Airport_. Henry and Tamie must know what normals think of active integration. It is going to be hard times for the next few years._ His deskscreen buzzed. Jano turned his attention to the incoming call.

"Good afternoon, Oregon International Airport. How may I help you?"

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The mouth-watering aroma of barbequed hamburgers waffled in from the backyard through the open French doors and into the living room of the Jacobsens' house. _There is nothing like hamburgers cooking over hickory-smoked charcoal fire the old-fashioned way._ Henry Jacobsen thought. _I would have asked Tamie to cook them quickly, telekinetically, but I'd rather have it done conventionally. _He had invited Tamara and her family over for dinner. Dana had almost knocked him over in her enthusiasm.

"Grandpa! Look what I've made for you!" The child leaped into his open arms and held up the object she had been brandishing at him. It was a tie clip. He was astonished to see intricate ivy leaf patterns carved onto the wooden surface.

_Tamie probably had a hand in this._ Henry had thought. His daughter Eleanor shook her head.

_The child is quite talented. She had made these for me by telekinesis, Tamie told me._ Eleanor indicated the silver and gold filigree earrings she was wearing. Henry looked at his granddaughter with pride.

"Thank you, Emerald." That was the pet name he had given her a month ago when the child was interested in the gemstones displayed in the window of a jewellery shop. He had told her that each gemstone represented the months of the calendar year. When Dana asked which gemstone was her birthstone, Henry had pointed out the ruby.

"I'd rather be emerald," Dana had said, taking an instant liking to the deep green stone.

"Emerald it is," Henry had replied, noting that his granddaughter's eyes were the exact shade of deep green as the stone.

"Come and get it!" Tamara called. Henry rose from the float sofa and went outside. The picnic table had been set and Eleanor was setting out the condiments. Dana flitted about, offering help to whoever needed it. The Jacobsens then settled down at the table.

"Grandpa, watch this." Dana levitated her hamburger and stared at it in concentration. After a minute or so, the burger broke into four equal pieces which dropped neatly back onto the plate. Henry wasn't surprised. If the child could carve delicate designs on his tie clip, something as simple as slicing hamburger probably was as natural to her as breathing.

"Little show-off," Jano said teasingly.

"Would you like me to cut your burger for you, Daddy?" Jano shook his head. "How about you, Grandpa?" Henry nodded. Dana floated his hamburger and it broke in half. She arranged the burger neatly on a plate and a few pieces of pickles were transferred discreetly beside the burger.

"Thank you, sweetheart." Henry was pleased that she remembered his craving for pickles. Dana smiled at him as she nibbled at her fourth piece.

"I'm considering sending Dana to pre-school," Tamara was saying. "She is old enough. It would be good for her to associate with children her own age. Jano and I have talked it over and as soon as space becomes available she will be enrolled." Henry surprised himself by protesting the idea.

"What would happen if the normals found out she isn't what she seemed? There is going to be mass hysteria. If the media caught on about mutants that look like normals, there is no telling what would happen. I don't want Dana to be subjected to that kind of publicity."

"I think Tamie is right, it would be a learning experience for Dana. I think society is due for a change. Someday the normals and the mutants will accept each other. Changes like this don't happen overnight. I'm sure Dana will like going to school." Eleanor smiled at her niece.

"Auntie Ellie, you should run for senator." was the little girl's unexpected reply. Henry, Jano, and Tamara burst out laughing. Dana had said it so seriously. Eleanor regarded her niece silently, her face an expressionless mask. When she spoke at last, her voice had taken on a decisive tone.

"Father, I've decided. I'll help you with your work at the council. We'll propose the integration of the schools to the others at the next gathering." Henry was both surprised and gratified. The topic of Dana's schooling was dropped in favour of planning for the upcoming family vacation. Henry knew that when the topic surfaced again, he would lose the argument to Tamara.


End file.
